Stepper motor wiring help(and a few other small questions from an instructable)

Here is an excelent resource regarding steppers and how they work

http://www.geckodrive.com/support.html

I found this to be very helpfull in setting up my CNC project

your stepper is a classic 4 wire / 2 coil 7.5deg per step so 360/7.5 = 48 full steps per revolution

also it looks like the black and orange are one coil and the brown/yellow the other

if you want to reverse the direction in hardware then simply swap the connection of black and orange (Put the black where the orange was and the orange where the black was) or do the similar thing with the other coil wires

Hope this helps, if you need more info then just ask

reverse... to change direction lol

now more seriously... then you wire up the stepper motor, if it is not going in the direction you expect for the command your giving then you can change the code or simply reverse two wires as I indicated and keep the code correct. noting more complex than that

regarding using your steppper vs the one on the instructable, you cant. or at least not in two diections. what you need to have is an HBridge controller. the stepper in the instructable is working only part of the abilities in order to keep the crcuit relativly simple,

(T1, 2, 3, 4 are in the ULN2003)

this is what instructables is doing

what you need is this

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RE: Stepper motor wiring help(and a few other small questions from an instructable)

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a rather entertaining video to say the least but it does have the info, using a SN754410NESN754410NE from TI and here is the data sheet with more wonderful info http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/sn754410.pdf

Oh, the software should not know the difference (I think) as it uses the same pins out of the arduino

hope it helps

I ordered the  SN754410NESN754410NE to use for my project and i just had a few questions about wiring it up the diagram you gave was very helpful but why do i need to hook up my arduino 5v to 1,2 en 3,4 en and V1 Where do the 4 GND connections get wired into Why is there only a spot for the positive wire for my stepper psu and not for the negative terminal if you look at the instructable the only power to provide is the negative and positive of the stepper so how would i wire up my stepper and my psu Amazon.com: NEW Genuine MU05-H120040-A2 12V 0.4A 400mA Power Supply Adapter for LEI: Electronics (also on a side note, i ordered the psu from amazon because it said it was .4A which is what i need, turns out its .5A, is that going to be ok if the stepper is .4A (the hbridge is .6A).

All Grounds (0V) should go together, the ground of the 12V, the 5V etc all are connected together at a common point

the 5V goes to all those pins because it is 5V logic input to the chip and those pins need to be either the logic supply or held high to enable the parts of the chip

The positive rail of your stepper PSU goes into the chip to feed the HBridge, the 0V (Negative terminal should all be connected together with the rest of the grounds so is implied that there is a return path

In this case the steppers are NOT wired to 0V or stepper supply + volts, the HBridge chip takes care of the stepper power

The stepper power supply is a weird thing, well steppers are the weird part. they can have a published rating of say 3.3V but be connected to as much as 48 or even 70 or 80V power supply via the stepper controller. it is the controller that governs how much power goes into the motor, not the power supply.

your choice of a 400mA (500mA actual) is a good place to be with your project, it is not too powerful to do any real damage if you make a mistake.

As a side note, I am currently rendering a few youtube videos for my CNC project ( https://www.youtube.com/c/thebreadboardca ) where I am using a 48V 10Amp power supply to drive a 3.2V 2.9A nema23 stepper motor (Well 4 of them actually), sounds crazy right but it is correct, you have to learn how steppers actually work to understand it and that will be the subject of another video i will be doing soon

OK that was very helpful, now there is only 1 thing i'm still a bit unsure about.  for the ground connections.  do i connect the arduino ground to the stepperpsu ground and connect those(as one wire) to any of the ground pins? or do i connect the stepperpsu ground to one ground terminal on the chip, and the arduino ground to a different ground pin on the chip? or does it not matter @peteroakes

As long as you have reasonably thick wires from the chip to the powersupply then you can use the powersupply 0V as you common point

"... or do i connect the stepperpsu ground to one ground terminal on the chip, and the arduino ground to a different ground pin on the chip?"

Connect all the GND pins of the stepper chip together at the chip. That's what TI intended for you to do. (On a PCB the pins would come down to an area of copper that would tie them solidly together and also provide for some heatsinking. In your case (400mA), it looks as though what you're doing falls within the capability of the device to dissipate power from the package alone, though you might want to add some heatsinking anyway in case you want to use it at a higher current or simply to improve the long-term reliability)

"... or do i connect the stepperpsu ground to one ground terminal on the chip, and the arduino ground to a different ground pin on the chip?"

Connect all the GND pins of the stepper chip together at the chip. That's what TI intended for you to do. (On a PCB the pins would come down to an area of copper that would tie them solidly together and also provide for some heatsinking. In your case (400mA), it looks as though what you're doing falls within the capability of the device to dissipate power from the package alone, though you might want to add some heatsinking anyway in case you want to use it at a higher current or simply to improve the long-term reliability)

an old motherboard and pull one from the small chips on the board is one possibility if you have access, if not there are plenty available from element14 (Newark / Farnell) or even ebay, search for stepper controller heatsinks and it should bring something up but as Gabriel stated, for the low current your switching, you probably wont need one, when you are running it, feel the top of the chip with the back of your hand or carefully with a finger, if you cant keep you skin in contact for more than  a few seconds then you need a heatsink, otherwise your probably good to go

Peter

I always like the wet finger.

It gives extra time for the slow brain to register the finger is saying "S..T THIS IS HOT" ...

and the sound of sizzling probably will reach the brain faster too

Funny you should say that because I have witnessed that.

A funnier thing was a guy at work who was so used to working with transistors and fingering them, that the first valve receiver he worked on, he got a belt of the grid cap ...

In case it helps, this is how the temperature calculation works for the chip. If you are working with different currents to what I've assumed here (400mA in each coil) you can rework it accordingly.

The bridge has an upper transistor and a lower transistor on each end of the coil. For this application, if an upper transistor is on you also have the opposite lower transistor on. If the lower transistor is on, the opposite upper is on. That's how you get the current to flow in one direction or the other through the coil.

Note from that there is always one upper and one lower on at any time.

Looking at page 6 of the datasheet [section 7.6 Typical Characteristics] you can see that for 400mA the upper transistor drops about 1.1V.

So that's a dissipation of 1.1V x 0.4A = 0.44W. That ends up as heat in the chip.

The bottom transistor drops about 0.9V, so that one is a dissipation of 0.9V x 0.4A = 0.36W

Total for the two is 0.8W. Since there are two coils that gives a grand total of 1.6W.

Although the output transistors are most of the dissipation, the rest of the circuitry does take some current too. The datasheet gives a max of 70mA on the +5V supply, but that's for all outputs low; let's average the figures for all low and all high and go for 50mA which adds 5V x 0.05A = .25W to our dissipation.

So the total for the chip is 1.85W.

That's a lot for a DIL package. You wouldn't expect an IC to disspate more than 0.5-1W without extra help (very variable, depending on how the chip is mounted inside, so always refer to the datasheet and don't guess).

The datasheet says the thermal resistance of the part is 60C/W. So, if we have 1.85W of heat flowing from the chip to the outside, we'll have a temperature rise of 111C. That's a temperature rise above whatever the ambient temperature around the package is. For an ambient of 25C, that means the chip inside will reach a temperature of 136C. The datasheet recommends a junction temperature of no more than 125C, so it looks like you should use some heatsinking.

The problem for you, even if you're happy to run it above the recommended figure, is that if you have it in a confined space (without forced cooling) the ambient temperature will rise and may take you to the point where it shuts down. (You won't damage the part because it has a temperature sensor and shuts itself down when the chip gets to 150C or so, but it's always a bit mysterious when you have a chip that doesn't work for a while and then suddenly springs into life again when it's cooled down a bit.)

jc2048

That's really helpful, I looked for heatsinking on ebay and element14's store, but couldn't find anything, coudl you link me some cheap heatsinking (i live in the US). 

Robert Peter Oakes

I finally got the stepper driver and I put it all together, but I am having a few issues that I don't really know how to diagnose.  I did some trial and error, but that could only help so much.  First of all, the laser doesn't turn on, second the stepper has an odd pattern of off and on, when i think it's supposed to stay on at a constant speed.  I'll take a video of that and show a diagram of how I have it wired up when I get home.

Thanks,
Gabe

looking forward to the video so I can help diagnose the issue

Can you also post the code you are using and the wiring sketch you ended up with when you post the video

Thanks

Peter

Sorry, I'm not in the US.

This is a glue-on type:

http://www.newark.com/fischer-elektronik/ick-14-16-l/heat-sink/dp/35M3896

This is a clip-on type:

http://www.newark.com/aavid-thermalloy/580200b00000g/heat-sink/dp/18M8201

The clip-on type is more expensive, but you can reuse it.

Whether it makes sense for you to buy from Newark I don't know.

TI really intended you to use the pcb, either by passing the heat down to a ground plane on a multi-layer board, or by having an area of copper next to the chip on either side on a two-layer board. The package resin doesn't conduct heat very well and they've engineered the chip to get as much of the heat down the ground pins as possible so although you'd certainly be helping with a heatsink on the top it's not as good value as taking the heat from those pins if you can.

Robert Peter Oakes

Diagram is below and here is the link to the youtube video.  https://youtu.be/T0Lmc4enkbg

diagram:  Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

Code:

int LaserState = LOW;                    // The variable that stores the state of the laser beam.
int sensor = 8 ;                         // Change this value to calibrate your harp's sensor
int delaylaser = 5;                     // If you increase this, the laser will be brighter, but the harp will be less fluid
int delaymotor = 3;                     // This variable affects the speed, and fluidity of the harp.


int LaserPin =  7;                       // Tell the arduino that the laser is on pin 7


int motorPin1 = 8;                      //Use these names for the pin numbers.
int motorPin2 = 9;
int motorPin3 = 10;
int motorPin4 = 11;


int note9 = 0x61;
int note8 = 0x63;
int note7 = 0x64;
int note6 = 0x66;
int note5 = 0x68;
int note4 = 0x70;
int note3 = 0x71;
int note2 = 0x40;
int note1 = 0x47;


int a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i = 0;       // Iniating the note status markers.


void setup()
{






  pinMode(8, OUTPUT);                    // Setup for the motor.
  pinMode(9, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(11, OUTPUT);




  pinMode(LaserPin, OUTPUT);            // Setup for laser.




  pinMode(13, OUTPUT);                 // Setup for status led.




  Serial.begin(31250);                 //  Start a serial communication channel for MIDI
}


void noteOn(int cmd, int pitch, int velocity)     // Function to play the notes
{
  Serial.write(cmd);
  Serial.write(pitch);
  Serial.write(velocity);
}


void loop()
{


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);               // Turn on the laser for the 1st beam.
  delay(delaylaser);


  if ( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (a == 0) ) // If the sensor gets a signal, and the not is not playing:


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);       // Switch on status led.
  noteOn(0x90, note1, 0x7F);    // Play note 1
  a++;                          // Change the status variable to one.
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )             // If the sensor does not get a signal:


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);         // Switch off the status led.
  noteOn(0x90, note1, 0x00);     // Stop playing note 1.
  a = 0;                         // Change the status variable to zero.
  }




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);                // Turn off the Laser.




  digitalWrite(motorPin1, HIGH);             // Move the motor to create the second beam.( One step forward)
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);                          // Small pause




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);              // Turn on the laser for the 2nd beam.
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (b == 0) ) // If the sensor gets a signal, and the not is not playing:


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);              // Switch on status led.
  noteOn(0x90, note2, 0x7F);           // Play note 2
  b++;                                 // Change the status variable to one.
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )           // If the sensor does not get a signal:


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);          // Switch off the status led.
  noteOn(0x90, note2, 0x00);      // Stop playing note 2.
  b = 0;                          // Change the status variable to zero.
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);                    // Turn off the Laser.






  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);              // Move the motor to create the second beam.( One step forward)
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);                          // Small pause




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);             // Turn on the laser for the 3rd beam.
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (c == 0) ) // If the sensor gets a signal, and the not is not playing:


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);       // Switch on status led.
  noteOn(0x90, note3, 0x7F);    // Play note 3
  c++;                          // Change the status variable to one.
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )           // If the sensor does not get a signal:
  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);        // Switch off the status led.
  noteOn(0x90, note3, 0x00);    // Stop playing note 2.
  c = 0;                        // Change the status variable to zero.
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);                 // Turn off the Laser.


  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);               // Move the motor to create the third beam.( One step forward)
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);                            // Small pause


  // Contiue in the same way for the rest of the code.


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);               //This is beam 4
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (d == 0) )
  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note4, 0x7F);
  d++;
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )
  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note4, 0x00);
  d = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);






  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, HIGH);
  delay(delaymotor);




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);                  //This is beam 5
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (e == 0) )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note5, 0x7F);
  e++;
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note5, 0x00);
  e = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);




  digitalWrite(motorPin1, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);                  //This is beam 6
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (f == 0) )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note6, 0x7F);
  f++;
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note6, 0x00);
  f = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);


  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);                  //This is beam 7
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (g == 0) )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note7, 0x7F);
  g++;
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note7, 0x00);
  g = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);






  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);                   //This is beam 8
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (h == 0) )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note8, 0x7F);
  h++;
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note8, 0x00);
  h = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);






  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, HIGH);
  delay(delaymotor);




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);    //This is beam 9
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (i == 0) )
  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note9, 0x7F);
  i++;
  }


  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note9, 0x00);
  i = 0;
  }






  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);




  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);       //This is beam 8
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (h == 0) )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note8, 0x7F);
  h++;
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note8, 0x00);
  h = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);






  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);    //This is beam 7
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (g == 0) )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note7, 0x7F);
  g++;
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )
  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note7, 0x00);
  g = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);




  digitalWrite(motorPin1, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);    //This is beam 6
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (f == 0) )


  {


  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note6, 0x7F);
  f++;
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note6, 0x00);
  f = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);




  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, HIGH);
  delay(delaymotor);




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);    //This is beam 5
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (e == 0) )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note5, 0x7F);
  e++;
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note5, 0x00);
  e = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);


  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);      //This is beam 4
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (d == 0) )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note4, 0x7F);
  d++;
  }


  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note4, 0x00);
  d = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);


  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);




  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);    //This is beam 3
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (c == 0) )
  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note3, 0x7F);
  c++;
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note3, 0x00);
  c = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);


  digitalWrite(motorPin1, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
  delay(delaymotor);


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, HIGH);    //This is beam 2
  delay(delaylaser);


  if( (analogRead(0) > sensor ) && (b == 0) )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  noteOn(0x90, note2, 0x7F);
  b++;
  }




  else if(analogRead(0) < sensor )


  {
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  noteOn(0x90, note2, 0x00);
  b = 0;
  }


  digitalWrite(LaserPin, LOW);




  digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
  digitalWrite(motorPin4, HIGH);
  delay(delaymotor);




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}